What exists today at Fruit Shak all started in the summer of 2013, when Nana and Kurtis decided to venture into the world of produce. With some expert guidance from one of Kurtis’s lifelong friend the Fruit Shak was born. What first started as a 1 tent roadside stand working off of a 4×8 flatbed trailer selling mostly palisade peaches grew into a full-scale market offering everything from Olathe sweet corn, green river melons, ripe picked peaches as well as other stone fruit, amazing field ripened tomatoes and a full variety of fresh picked vegetables. Even though the full produce market was a hit (and certainly a full-time job) we didn’t stop there. Nana still wasn’t satisfied as her baking, canning, and preserving experience was missing in action. Kurtis wanted to add meats that we had been raising on our ranch. So back to the drawing board we went. Fast forwarding a couple of years and we are swamped, after adding a second kitchen at the ranch to keep up with breads and jars as well as building several pens to allow for increased livestock availability.
We had reached a point of full capacity and it was time to bring in the reinforcements. So with much excitement we brought on the rest of the foundation. Sheri (Kurtis’s wife) left her job and started to help Nana in the kitchen with the bread and jars. Over the next years demand for the Fruit Shak brand had reached yet another peak. We needed a commercial kitchen to keep up with the demand. We ended up searching for over a year to find an affordable and desirable location that would meet our needs, as well as be close enough to our existing customers. Finally, the perseverance paid off and we ended up in the Meadowood Shoppette in Aurora at Dartmouth and Laredo. Even though we were able to get the produce tent up for the summer of 2021 we spent much of 2021 and part of 2022 getting the property ready for our needs. April 30th, 2022 was the official opening of our store.
With much excitement the Fruit Shak can now offer our breakfast burritos, baked breads, pickles, salsas, ranch raised meat, and many other Colorado local items all year round!
We very much look forward to serving the surrounding community for many years to come and we hope to see you at our market soon.
